


Passing The Bat

by archivedaccount27953



Category: Kagerou Project, Mekakucity Actors
Genre: Ayaka being feral but with love for her kids, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Past Child Abuse, we stan a good fackin mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-01 23:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20266312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archivedaccount27953/pseuds/archivedaccount27953
Summary: Most people expect to inherit something soft from their mother, a quilt or a blanket, clothes or other sentimental objects. Kano, however, takes the most comfort from a metal baseball bat and the determination of a mother bear when it comes to protecting his family.





	Passing The Bat

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 8/15 everyone! I was planning to write something else for today (and I still might actually) but since I already had this written I wanted to post it since it's one of my favorite headcanons and we all need more Ayaka content. Anyway, enjoy! <3

Sometimes, well most times, Shuuya was scared of little things.

At the facility, he hadn't had to worry about it. No one in their right mind would break into that place when there was nothing of value and the people were mean.

This place was different and he found himself scared that history might repeat itself more or less. Thoughts of his adoptive parents dead, his siblings huddled behind him as they tried to hide from someone or another wouldn't leave him alone. Sometimes he had nightmares about it and he'd search the house before coming back and normally Kousuke and Tsubomi would be waiting for him to come back on his bed and they'd fall asleep together like that.

He was always careful though. Every day he checked the doors and triple check them to be sure they were really locked. At night he always searched the house with a spare flashlight he'd found and checked the doors and all the windows that weren't in his family's rooms before going to bed. Their room didn't have a lock yet so he barricaded the door sometimes with a box.

He wasn't sure who he was expecting. Okay, that wasn't really true. He knew he was imagining his mother but she was dead. For some reason, she'd replaced the intruder in his nightmares now. She'd come and say that losing his current family was the price for letting her die.

The fact that he was now glad she was dead made this paranoia worse he thought. Even though he knew it was impossible for her to come back, even though it had never been her that killed him, she was the face he saw at midnight when he saw an unfortunately stacked bit of furniture or other human-looking items in the dark.

Well, it turned out his nightly patrols and habits weren't as stealthy as he had initially thought because his adoptive parents had told him they knew about it. At first, he'd flinched up because he'd thought he was in trouble but they'd only said if he ever needed to come get them during the night it was okay.

He never planned on doing that ever because in his experience waking up sleeping parents was asking for death but the assurance otherwise was comforting enough to have in the back of his mind anyway.

So, this led him to his current surroundings. He sat at the landing of the stairs and held his chin in his hands lazily. He hadn't slept at all the previous night and he was grumpy and he'd snapped at his siblings and came here to live out his time in exile, staring at the door and wondering if someone could break it down easily if they were strong enough.

He was ready to start crying when he heard a soft sigh and someone, who he immediately recognized as Ayaka, sat down next to him. "Hey, kid," she said softly.

"Hey," he echoed sadly.

"You seem tired," she pointed out.

"Haven't slept."

She very slowly, very carefully wrapped an arm around him before scooting a little closer and glanced at him to be sure it was okay. He was a little unnerved about how she and her husband did that because it made him feel like glass about to break, but at the same time, the fact that they respected him enough to do so was comforting.

"Is it the nightmares again?"

He nodded and when he started to tear up a little he wiped at his eyes and held it back. "What if… What if she came back for me?"

He knew he wasn't making sense. Dead people couldn't come back from the dead. At least, he'd thought that initially and yet he was here and breathing. So, actually, maybe she was somewhere out there planning awful things.

The logic behind it was enough to make him cover his face and begin to cry more fully. He rarely cried because he'd always been berated for it or in cases he wasn't he only worried people. He wasn't a cryer but he couldn't take the thought of his mother's return, the idea of her punishing everyone else for his own failures.

"She sure did a number on you.." Ayaka sighed sadly and began to rub his back. She seemed worried but she also seemed kind of numb to it, compassionate but not overwhelmed.

Once he was finished crying, he wiped at his eyes and muttered an apology.

Ayaka nodded and smiled sadly, carefully tucking the hair out of his face. "You don't have to apologize, but I understand and it's okay."

He nodded and stared at the door again, hands shaking.

"Shuuya," Ayaka's voice was soft and inviting, "is it alright for me to show you something?"

He glanced at her and then back to the door. "Are you...sure it's safe?"

She nodded. "The door is locked and only someone super strong could break it, please don't worry."

Deciding a distraction would be good, he nodded and held onto her hand as they made their way down the stairs. He was expecting her to retrieve a protective jacket and goggles so they could study chemical reactions in the backyard again but instead, she led him to the garage.

"What are we doing in here?" He asked curiously.

Ayaka gestured for him to sit on the step immediately in front of the door. "Sit there okay?"

Doing as instructed, he rested his chin in his hands and watched her curiously.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting but it wasn't for her to retrieve a long, dense, object he recognized a moment later to be a metal baseball bat. He now understood why she'd asked him to sit by the door, evidently she'd been worried he'd be scared of getting hit were he closer to her at the moment. That was a small thing and probably common decency but knowing she'd considered it ahead of time was more comforting than it probably should have been.

"This- is my oldest and most treasured belonging," she said as she effortlessly lifted it into one hand.

She swung it a few times carefully, not hitting anything but the air, and then she twirled it between both hands in a way that seemed difficult but incredibly easy simultaneously. After making a show of this, she set the top of it on the floor and leaned on it for comfort.

He thought it was strange for that to be a comfort object, though maybe she played a lot of baseball? He hadn't considered her to he particularly sporty but she did go jogging every day and went to the gym a lot so maybe he was wrong.

"I'll spare you the nitty-gritty but…" She suddenly adopted a serious expression as she leveled her gaze with his. "My parents were scary too…"

"Oh…"

That explained a lot. She always knew what to do to make him feel safe, always knew exactly what he was afraid of, and he'd thought she was just exceptionally observant. Still, if she'd experienced these things herself it made a lot more sense why she always seemed to understand.

Still, thinking of her as being scared of anyone was just about laughable; she was the most fearless person he'd known in his life so far. The idea of her being a scared child as battered as he was sucked so he chose not to think about it. She evidently hadn't wanted him to think of that part of it either, so instead he focused on her as she was right now.

"Things were never safe for me at home because of my dad, and so I grew up similarly to how you've been doing. When I was your age I was terrified of making one mistake too many, of standing out...I wished I could just disappear entirely if it was better than getting hurt."

Well, that certainly was familiar to him at least. Sensing there was more to this story than just this, he glanced up at her and asked a bit timidly, "What did you do?"

She shrugged. "Survived till I was fifteen, saved up some money, and then I bought a baseball bat and snuck it into my room with me."

She swung it up effortlessly then and let it rest on one of her shoulders. "And after that, if he ever tried to hurt me I could protect myself. Things didn't get better that way, not in the long term, but it kept me alive and hey I got good at using it."

This was somehow a surprise to him. The thought of fighting back had never occurred to him, not once in his painful encounters with his mother had he considered trying to defend himself. Yet, the way she said it felt normal and maybe even comforted him in a strange way.

"So how did it get better?"

His adoptive mother smiled then and tilted her head a bit in a nostalgic way. "A few weeks before graduation I met your dad. He came to my house twice and then said I was going to live with him now, that I had to get out of there for good. So we ran away together and I never have spoken to my father again. Only then was I able to really start healing…"

Oh, so that's how it was. He'd never really had thought about their relationship because it wasn't his business but he felt a sort of comfort knowing his adoptive father was that kind of person.

"And do you… Do you still get scared?"

There was a tense moment of silence and then she nodded slowly, giving the saddest smile he'd seen from her. "Sometimes, yes, I do. It's why I go to therapy but don't worry about it, once you get to be my age the fear is something you can deal with much more easily."

Oh. He'd wondered if they'd ever go away completely but that was his answer. The fear wouldn't go away but it would get easier and he guessed that was probably enough for him. Because right now? The pain in his gut was anything easy.

He took a breath. "Okay."

Keeping her expression soft she asked a question of her own. "But you know...I think I'll keep this close okay?"

She stretched one leg out casually and pressed the bat against the top of her sneakers carefully. "So, if anyone scary does show up, they'll have to go through me first and if it's you and your siblings in danger you know I'll always win in a fight."

At that moment, hearing the determination in her tone, he suddenly understood the meaning of the expression mother bear. She was gentle, his instincts hadn't caught up with his brain but he knew she'd never ever hurt him, and yet she was strong enough to have anyone who thought to hurt them begging for mercy most likely.

Suddenly, he felt a little smile spreading on his face. "That's the reason you showed me this, isn't it?"

Her eyes sparkled a little bit and after setting the bat back in its place, she came and patted his head. "Yes, it was."

She didn't say it, but she was clearly proud of this observation and it made him feel like maybe he was smarter than he gave himself credit for.

"I think...I'm not as scared anymore." He thought for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah, I think you could take mom in a fight pretty easily she's never protected anyone in her life probably."

She huffed indignantly at his abuser's expense but then she smiled and hugged him carefully before scooping him up into her arms.

"Alright then, let's go see what your siblings are up to Hm?"

***

Kano had always felt safe with his real mother. She'd been a strong and kind person, unlike the woman that still sometimes haunted his nightmares to this day. Ayaka was gentle and soft to her family but fierce and formidable to her enemies. He had no doubt if someone ever had tried to break in they'd be the ones regretting it.

Maybe that's why it took a landslide to kill her and not another human being.

He wasn't scared of the dark anymore so he didn't mind having just a flashlight to repeatedly check the living room of their special hideout for signs that something was amiss. He was tired but the anxiety in his gut was keeping him awake as he rested his back against the front door.

He was brave enough to keep a watchful eye on things and dumb enough to hope this wouldn't be the night that awful snake found out where they were hiding. The others were unknowingly depending entirely on him to protect them. He had to protect them because he was a strong person now, wasn't he?

Ayano was a strong person too.

Swallowing hard at the thought he gripped his comfort item and weapon of choice more tightly. The metal bat rested over his lap and though it was cold against his pajama pants it was the best he had if he wanted to fight. After all, if he brought any real weapons into the house he'd worry his siblings.

All three of them were sleeping soundly in their rooms when he checked. Seto wasn't using his power. His secret was safe for another night and so would they all be.

He did his best to hope for the best until he nodded off against the bat. He'd still be there when his brother left for work in the morning, holding the bat like a teddy-bear and whimpering in his sleep. 


End file.
